Technical Abstract:
The maintenance of soil quality is extremely important to ensure a satisfactory crop growth and high yield. Application of broiler litter to row crops as an alternative nutrient source to commercial fertilizer not only provides all essential nutrients for crop production but also has the potential to improve other aspects of soil quality. This study was conducted at Coffeeville under no-till and at Cruger under conventional tillage system from 2002 to 2004 to evaluate the effects of repeated annual broiler litter application on soil chemical, physical and biological properties. Soil series are a Dubbs silt loam and an Ariel silt loam at Cruger and Coffeeville, respectively. Broiler litter rates were 2.2, 4.5, and 6.7 Mg ha-1 supplemented with 0, 34 and 67 kg N ha-1 as urea ammonium nitrate solution. Broiler litter was incorporated into the soil at Cruger, but it was left on the soil surface at Coffeeville. Post-harvest soil samples were taken and divided into the depth of 0-15, 15-30, 30-60 and 60-90 cm, and analyzed for pH, total N, total C, NH4, NO3, bulk density and soil aggregate stability. The field-moist soils were gently sieved through a 2-mm sieve to measure biomass C. At the top 0-15 cm depth, soil total C, total N, biomass C, and aggregate stability were 22%, 16%, 41% and 23% were greater at Coffeeville than at Cruger. These findings have implications for understanding how broiler litter application to a no-till cotton field improve soil quality and sustainability of cotton production cropping system.